The Usefulness of Nets
by Copper's Mama
Summary: A Jarod/Miss Parker fic, from the season 1 ep: Keys. Jarod and Miss Parker, trapped in a net just like Bartlett had been. Oh, the possibilities. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

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_A Jarod/Miss Parker fic. _

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_Disclaimer: The only part of The Pretender that I own is seasons 1 - 4 on DVD. _

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_A/N: So, this is inspired by the season 1 episode: Keys. Just a little rewrite of what I think could have happened. _

_Hope you guys like it, I know I'll love writing it!_

_As always, please read and review, I live for feedback! _

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Things had not gone as planned.

_That's an understatement,_ Jarod thought to himself, trying to come up with a way to get out of the situation he'd found himself in.

His intended victim had taken a leaf out of Jarod's own book, and after having captured himself and Miss Parker, Bartlett had held them at gun-point and made Jarod retrieve one of the nets they seldom used. Jarod hadn't used them for two reasons: he hadn't been able to test them to see if they would hold the other man's weight, and he'd wanted to personally craft the net to capture the villain.

But, he'd been careless, and now he was trapped inside a decidedly sturdy net with the most ferocious of the Parkers.

"I am going to kill you," she told him, though her voice was slightly muffled. She'd wisely ditched her heels - so that she wouldn't suffer a broken ankle on top of everything else - before Bartlett had made them stand in the path of the net, but she'd been about to ream Jarod out for his idiocy when the trap had been sprung, and as a result had found herself smooshed against his impossibly hard body.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," Jarod replied with his trademark sarcastic edge, and for once she found herself wishing she were farther away from him, if only so that she could properly bring her arm around to deck him.

She pushed him away from her, ending up landing on top of him in the swaying net. Miss Parker growled, pushing back with more force and successfully - somewhat - managing to force them into sitting positions, using their knees pressing against each other to stop the net from pushing them together again.

"Well, come on, genius," she sniped. "Get us out of this."

Jarod sighed, gazing back at her. "And how do you propose I do that?" Realistically, there was a simple way for them to escape their prison ... he could feel the flare gun pressed against the inside of his pant-leg. It would only take one well-aimed shot to free them from the ropes that held them captive. Unfortunately, that would also use up his one advantage against Miss Parker.

He needed to get back to Simone, but he tried to think of another way of getting out of the net.

Miss Parker opened her mouth to nag at him again, but she could almost see his mind working, and decided to leave him to think. She was drenched, and only getting wetter. The hurricane was dying down, but it was still fairly windy, and was definitely still raining.

She studied his thoughtful face, wondering if things would have been different if she hadn't been sent away to school. She hadn't really thought of him in any sort of romantic way until he'd called Sydney to talk about a woman he'd met. She'd listened to the conversation over and over, remembering back to when they'd first met, and how she'd shared her first kiss with him. That was ages ago.

Miss Parker tried to bring herself back to the present, but she kept thinking back to when they were kids, and how they'd grown so close in such little time. Really, they'd only known each other for a handful of years before her father had sent her away. After that, she'd only spent a few weeks out of the summer at home, and would only visit her father at work occasionally. Those few times that she'd been there, she'd taken pleasure in taunting the boy she'd used to call her friend with her constantly changing looks, and growing body. She'd seen him watching her, and had easily recognized the expression on his face - it was one she'd seen on many boys: lust.

She too had taken in Jarod's increasingly attractive maturation, but she'd been much better at hiding her emotions that he.

After she'd graduated college, she had spent as little time at "The Centre" as possible. She had situated herself in her corporate position, and had been living a perfectly comfortable lifestyle until one day her father had informed her that their "pretender" had run away.

She had been amused when he'd first told her. It had surprised her that it had taken him nearly 30 years to decide to leave his prison, and it hadn't really concerned her until her father had brought her into the chase. Now it was her mission to catch him.

Well, she had sort of succeeded. At the moment, he was trapped and he wasn't going anywhere ... but neither was she.

Suddenly Jarod stood up within their encasement, causing her to be smooshed against him in an awkward position. "I've got it!" he exclaimed.

She tried to push away from him, but it was nowhere near as easy as before.

He noticed her predicament immediately, and almost blushed. "Oh," was all he was able to say, squirming a little. She was still crouched in a sitting position, and so was pressed against the middle of his body ... mainly, his pelvic area.

He reached down, helping her stand up. It wasn't easy, but eventually they managed it.

Once again they were face to face, the ropes around them pushing their bodies together.

Jarod had placed the arches of his shoes against the cross-sections of the ropes under him, finally having come up with a plan.

"Let's have it, Boy-Wonder," she urged, eager to put some distance between them. Their proximity was sending her insides for a loop, in a not-entirely-unpleasant way.

He rolled his eyes at her comment and removed his hands from her arms, grabbing the ropes above him. Before she could open her mouth to ask him what he planned on doing, he pushed against the ropes underneath them and pulled the ropes above them, causing the net to sway.

Not expecting him to do that, she lost her balance and fell against him again. There hadn't been much space between them in the first place, but it was an entirely different sensation to be _on_ him than it was to be _next to_ him.

Her face was pressed into his neck, her arms had fallen through the gaps in the ropes behind him, and though her feet had managed to grip the ropes under her, while trying to right herself she had walked onto Jarod's shoes. Images of Jarod dancing with a little girl that looked just like her flashed through her mind before she could stop them. She groped wildly for the ropes with her arms in an attempt to pull away from him, but all she managed to do was grab his shoulders from behind him, winding up wrapping herself around him.

"Comfortable?" he asked her with perked eyebrows, trying not to let show that his heart was beating nearly three times faster than normal.

"What are you trying to do?" she wondered icily, raising her head so that she could look at him. The muscles in her neck tensed, but if she released them she would end up plastered against his face ... and that was just not an option.

"I'm going to swing the net," he explained simply. "Eventually, either it or the branch holding will reach its breaking point and snap, or we'll manage to get close enough to a tree to latch on and pull ourselves up, disconnecting the latch holding the net in place. I could use your help," he added.

She nodded after a moment and slid her hands up further, gripping the ropes behind his shoulders and pressing down on his feet with an extra smirk. She didn't think she was actually causing him pain, but it was the thought that counted.

It was a good plan, with one minor flaw: every time they swung back and forth, their entire bodies moved against each other. Not just moved ... ground. When Jarod would pull up on his ropes, Miss Parker would try to relax against him and let their combined weight and momentum do the work, and when it was her turn she would pull up on her ropes, swinging them back the other way. Every single time they pulled on the ropes, their bodies pushed up into each other, creating a motion that she was all-too familiar with.

Her pulse was erratic as they swayed back and forth, and her breath would hitch every time his pelvis pushed into hers.

And to make matters worse, she could _feel_ that it was having the same effect on him.

He looked away from her, apparently embarrassed at his body betraying him in such a way - and in the most inappropriate of circumstances. Miss Parker was almost grateful for this, because if he'd looked at her while they were moving against each other, she might have lost it right then and there.

They were really swinging now, and Miss Parker was starting to regret their course of action. If the net did snap, it would hurt like hell when they hit the ground. If they did manage to grab onto a tree - rather, if Jarod managed to grab onto a tree, as there was no way she was going to be able to hold both of them up, let alone climb up a tree in their position - slamming into said tree was also going to hurt like hell.

Jarod might have been thinking the same thing, as he chose at that moment to look at her with worry on his face.

She swallowed the rain-water and saliva that had built up in her mouth, blinking her eyes a few times. Their heads seemed to draw closer, and Miss Parker dared herself to wonder if he was going to kiss her when they heard the telltale snap of the old, worn ropes. And then they were falling.

They had been roughly 8 feet in the air when the ropes had snapped, and as they fell Jarod rapidly flipped them in the air, landing on his back when they hit the ground.

Miss Parker was momentarily winded from the impact, but knew Jarod had purposefully taken the brunt of it. Laying on top of him, she pushed away at the ropes on top of her, managing to separate a few of them where they had snapped. She untangled them from the net as Jarod groaned in protest.

"You okay?" she asked him, surprised at her own concern. She told herself it was only because she didn't want to have to drag him back to the car.

He nodded, and took a few steadying breaths. It probably didn't help that she was still on top of him, but instead of jumping up she draped her knees over his hips, propping herself up on one hand while the other tucked her hair behind her ears.

"Good idea," she told him, meeting his eyes.

He nodded, feeling the tightening sensation below his waist once more, and found himself wishing she would climb off of him before she noticed.

Of course, he wasn't so lucky, and her eyes flickered down to where their bodies connected before glancing up to look at him once more. "My, my, Jarod, aren't we just -"

She was unable to finish her sentence as he leaned up, silencing her with his lips against hers.

She was shocked at his actions, but impressed with his boldness. She found herself sinking against him, pressing him back into the ground.

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_End of chapter one. This will only be two or three chapters long, and I'm planning to do more of a "flashback" in the next chapter to get some more background on her visits to the Centre while she was "growing up", and Jarod's reaction to her. _

_Hope you guys liked it, I know I loved writing it. _

_Will try to update soon! _

_Reviews are appreciated, positive or negative. _

_Until next time ...!_


	2. Chapter 2

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_A Jarod/Miss Parker fic._

_Chapter Two. _

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_Disclaimer: See Ch. 1_

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_A/N: Here's chapter two! Hope you guys like it! _

_As always, please read and review, I live for feedback!_

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~ _She was sixteen now, and she had hoped that her father would take her somewhere exotic for the summer like he'd promised, but she'd arrived home after months away to discover that he was "busy" at the Centre. The house was empty except for the occasional servant, and most of them didn't speak much English, and had absolutely nothing exciting to talk about, so she had decided to work on her summer readings at the Centre. That way she could at least see her father throughout the day, and sometimes he even had time to share lunch with her. _

_She hadn't seen Jarod in over a year, and even that had been in passing. Her father had asked her to meet him at the Centre before they left for the airport. She had been wandering around, waiting for her father when Sydney had come out of an elevator with Jarod behind him. He had grown a few inches since the last time she saw him, and he was starting to get more of a muscular build. _

_He'd recognized her immediately and smiled in greeting. She could tell that he wanted to stop and talk to her, but Sydney urged him on, and Miss Parker simply nodded her head back in greeting. _

_A whole year had gone by since then, and she'd had a few growth spurts of her own. She was curious as to what he looked like now, and she found herself wondering if he would react to her the same way that the boys at school did. _

_She was sporting a tight, black shirt with short sleeves and a short, white skirt. Her long legs that were usually covered in her school uniform's knee-high socks were free of their itchy barriers, and instead of her usual pumps, she had strapped on a pair of black high heels that made her feel both tall and powerful. _

_She sat in a chair with her legs propped up on the one beside her, pretending to be absorbed in her book of Shakespeare's poems. She didn't have to wait long before a tall boy with dark hair and a shy smile came and sat across from her. _

_"Miss Parker?" he asked hesitantly. _

_She flipped the page casually. "Hello, Jarod." _

_"It's been a long time," he commented. "How have you been?" _

_She shrugged, moving her legs from the chair to prop them up on the table. "Well enough," she replied without looking up from her book. _

_She could almost hear Jarod gulp from across from her, and had to work to not smirk at his typical reaction. _

_"Well ... what's school like?" he asked her finally. _

_"Boring," she answered honestly. She allowed a dangerous grin to grace her features. "The boys there just aren't ... smart enough for me." _

_Jarod blinked a few times, unable to stop the shy smile from showing on his face. His eyes flickered down to her legs, and he had opened his mouth to say something when Sydney walked into the room. _

_"Miss Parker, how nice to see you again," he greeted, and she immediately dropped her legs from the table, straightening her back and putting on her most proper expression. _

_"Hello, Sydney," she offered, standing up. "I hope I'm not interrupting your work." _

_Sydney shook his head. "Not at all. I see you're reading Shakespeare." _

_Miss Parker nodded. "It's my summer homework." _

_He nodded, looking her over. "I hope you don't mind me saying, Miss Parker, but you are looking more and more like your mother every day." _

_Miss Parker glanced at the floor before putting on the mask she'd perfected since her mother had killed herself. "Thank you, Sydney. My father tells me the same thing." She looked back at Jarod who seemed to be captivated by her. "Do you mind if I sit here to read?" she asked. "I'm supposed to meet my father for lunch, and this is one of the only quiet places I've been able to find." _

_Sydney nodded. "Of course. I'm sure you and Jarod have a lot of catching up to do, at the very least," he told her. _

_Miss Parker leaned back in her chair as Sydney left, batting her eyes a few times at Jarod before opening her book once more to a random page. _

_"You were further ahead than that," Jarod informed her. _

_She looked out of the corner of her eye at him. "How would you know?" _

_Jarod shrugged. "I believe you were on page 204, not 138." _

_She figured he was probably right, but tossed her hair over her shoulder in response. "I like this poem better." _~

Back in the present, Miss Parker moaned softly against Jarod's skilled tongue, flipping her head back as he rolled them over so that she was on her back, and he was towering above her.

She'd thought about him like this many times over the years ... in a less graphic way when they were kids, and her infatuation with him had only been a simple crush, but as they grew older, and she gained more experience, there was always one man that she'd think of with shivers down her spine. The same shivers that she was experiencing that very moment.

He pressed his lips to hers once more and she responded willingly, situating herself more easily between his legs and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her hands tangling in his dark hair.

~ _She was seventeen now, and it was the summer before her last year of secondary school. Once again her father had promised her a family vacation, and once again he had backed out on her. She was used to it at this point, and she didn't let it bother her. She intended to spend her vacation driving Jarod insane. She had seen him briefly when she'd come home over Christmas break, and she knew that he still felt the same way about her. _

_It made her feel ... powerful ... to hold such control over another person. Especially a male. Though she wondered if it would have such an impact on her if she didn't have still have some feelings for the boy as well. _

_As she walked through the halls of the Centre, she could see some of the men in the building eyeing her. She grinned, reveling in the attention. _

_She had never been ashamed of her looks, and her father had taught her to use all of her skills and attributes to her advantage. _

_She wandered around where he usually spent his free time, pretending to be absorbed in her summer reading once more. This time it was Macbeth. _

_She didn't have to wait long for Jarod to arrive, and she heard his footsteps pause while he walked over to his table. _

_"Hello, Miss Parker," he greeted with a happily surprised tone. _

_She waited a few seconds before looking up from her book. "Oh, hello." _

_He had definitely matured since she had seen him last. Another growth spurt. He was almost six feet tall now, she was sure. _

_"Back for the summer again?" he wondered. _

_She nodded. "Just killing time until my father is done work." _

_He glanced at the papers in his hands before sitting down at the table and beginning to draw. _

_Miss Parker continued to walk casually around the room, her heels clicking against the floor. She brushed her long, dark hair over one shoulder, exposing her neck and shoulder. _

_His eyes would flicker up to her occasionally, but he seemed to be engrossed in whatever it was he was working one. She found herself growing annoyed. _

_She wanted him to pay attention to her ... she wanted him to want her, and for it to drive him insane. Otherwise, what was the point of her even being there? _

_She was about to call it a day when he set down his pencil and looked up at her. "Here," he offered, holding out the paper for her. _

_She eyed him with confusion before walking over and taking the paper from his hand. It was a sketch of her. Well, sketch wasn't really the right word, as it was so detailed and ... beautiful. But it had only taken him ten or so minutes to make it ... it was amazing. _

_"Thank you," she spoke softly, her eyes taking in the drawing. _

_"I hope you like it," he replied, that same shy smile on his face. ~_

She tugged open his already partially-unbuttoned shirt, almost tearing it from his body. He removed his hands from her frame to complete her task, allowing her to push him up so she could remove her own jacket. He began unbuttoning her shirt, but he was moving much too slowly for her liking, so she leaned forward and gently bit his shoulder to urge him on.

He seemed to get the message and quickened his pace, pulling her shirt free from her pants and drawing it down her arms, leaving her in a black bra.

He smiled softly before dipping down and nibbling at the nape of her neck, teasing the skin. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy his ministrations before reaching for his belt and tugging on the buckle.

~_ She was heading to college in a month. Her father had essentially guaranteed her a position in the Centre's corporate section upon her graduation. She could no longer be the girl who visited her father at work and associated with the "test subjects" or "experiments" they held there, so she planned to say goodbye to Jarod before she left. She didn't know why she felt the need to sever ties with him in such a passive and personal way, but for whatever reason, she wanted there to be some kind of closure between them. _

_She had found him in his usual spot, and asked him if they could go for a walk. He'd told her that he still had a couple of hours before Sydney had schedules a simulation for him, and had agreed to take a walk with her. _

_Which was how she had ended up in his "play room". She thought it was silly for a boy his age to have a "play room", but said nothing about it. For once she wasn't dressed to torment him. She wore a long-sleeved shirt and dress pants, though she was still wearing the heels she loved so much. She was slightly disappointed that even in heels, she was still a few inches shorter than Jarod. _

_He asked her what her school had been like, the kinds of people that she'd met, and what she'd done for fun. She left out some of the more racy details, for once not wanting to flaunt her sexuality in his face. _

_She was aware that he didn't know many - if any other than her - girls, and had easily deducted that he was a virgin. On her previous visits she had used that information to "make him sweat", wearing as revealing of outfits as she thought she could get away with - in case her father noticed - and discussing her dates with him in such a flippant way. But not this time. _

_This time she wanted to remember the little boy she'd been friends with. She wouldn't be seeing him any more. _

_"Miss Parker?" his voice rang out, pulling her out of her thoughts. _

_"What?" _

_Jarod looked at her with that same worried/confused look on his face. "Are you okay? I was calling your name ..." _

_She shrugged, picking up a baseball from one of his shelves. "Just got lost in my thoughts." _

_Jarod nodded understandingly. "I do that all the time." _

_She looked at the many designs and objects in the room, knowing that he had made most, if not all of them. "You have a very good imagination, Jarod." _

_Jarod smiled in response. "Thank you." _

_She set the ball down, taking a deep breath and leaning against the shelf. "There's something I wanted to tell you." _

_"You're leaving," Jarod spoke for her. _

_She looked up at him with confused eyes. "How did you ...?" _

_He shrugged. "Aside from the fact that you left your college brochures sticking out of your bag last Christmas ... I heard Sydney talking about it with your father. They're very proud of you." He paused. "I am too." _

_Miss Parker found herself growing uncomfortable. "Thanks ... I guess." _

_Jarod nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets and waiting for her to continue. _

_"I just wanted to say goodbye," she told him. "I won't be able to come visit you anymore." _

_"How come?" Jarod wondered innocently. _

_She sighed. "My father has big plans for me, Jarod. I'm going to be spending a lot of time on my studies, and when I'm done, I'll be working here. We can't ... be friends anymore." _

_He looked visibly disappointed, but said, "I guess I understand." _

_She was surprised that she felt as sad as she did. She had wanted to make a clean break, but now she found herself regretting ... something. Her decision to leave for college? To join the Centre? To leave Jarod? She didn't know. _

_She took in his saddened form, wondering if there was a way to make this situation less painful. At school, whenever she met a boy that she had trouble figuring out, there was a simple remedy. _

_She stepped away from the shelf, walking towards him. He looked up at her as she walked towards him, sliding his hands out of his pockets. _

_She held out her hand for his, holding her palm against his ... just like the first day they'd met. There was a small spark of static electricity when they first touched, and it seemed to heat up their hands as they pressed together. _

_Miss Parker glanced from their hands to his face, meeting his eyes and then slowly dropped her gaze lower, to his lips. She unconsciously dragged her tongue across her lips, wetting them. She took another step towards him, until there was only an inch between them. _

_She could feel his breath on her face, and her eyes drifted closed as she began to lean forward. His hand began to close on hers, interlocking their fingers, and she pulled back suddenly. _

_"I'm sorry," she said, backing away hastily. "Goodbye Jarod." _

_She ran out of the room, telling herself she would never see him again. _~

She slid his thick, leather belt through the belt loops of his pants, tossing the item to the side as he brought his hand up to her face to cup her head while he lavished her with kisses. He found her mouth once more, finding it parted and ready for him as his tongue moved sensually against hers.

She lay back against the clothes underneath her, feeling her skin being splattered with raindrops that Jarod licked away while he moved down her body.

He found the button of her pants and kissed her navel with he undid the next barrier, sliding them down her hips. When she was down to her underwear he stood above her, gazing down at her with lust-filled eyes. She rose to her knees, moving slowly towards him and gripping the material of his pants, opening the button and sliding down the zipper.

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_End of chapter two. _

_Next chapter: sex scene. Won't be too graphic, but will trying to be as ... descriptive as possible without it sounding too much like porn. Hate writing those kinds of scenes, they always come out seeming either dirty or cheesy. _

_Anywhoo, hope you liked this bit, I know I had fun writing it! _

_Reviews are appreciated, positive or negative. _

_Until next time ...! _


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